London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Oct 19, 2025

‘Weird and gimmicky’: police chiefs condemn Boris Johnson’s crime plan

‘Weird and gimmicky’: police chiefs condemn Boris Johnson’s crime plan

PM’s attempt to grip agenda flounders amid criticism he has ignored evidence on stop-and-search
Police chiefs have condemned Boris Johnson’s high-profile strategy to tackle crime as “weird and gimmicky”, while plans to increase stop-and-search were criticised for ignoring the evidence.

The crime initiative was supposed to show the Johnson government gripping the agenda. But senior police officers, the rank and file, opposition politicians and even some in business rebuked it.

The criticism of Johnson’s crime plan is the latest in a series of setbacks for the prime minister’s domestic relaunch, after his landmark “levelling up” speech was mocked for being light on detail and his plan to overhaul social care delayed by Treasury wrangling and a Conservative backlash over tax rises.

The shadow justice secretary, David Lammy, said the plan was “tinkering” and would do nothing to rebuild a broken system. “It is just a rehash of policies that won’t make our streets safer or prevent offending,” he said.

“Delays in the courts are at a record high, while convictions for the most serious crimes including rape are at a record low. The government’s tinkering proposals do little to reverse the effects of the closure of 295 courts in England and Wales, or to deal with the massive cuts to drug treatment services, the police, the CPS and the whole justice system his government has made since 2010.”

Among the proposals in the strategy are:

* Permanently relaxing conditions on the use of section 60 stop-and-search powers for police to tackle knife crime.

* Expanding the use of electronic monitoring for thieves upon release from prison.

* Trialling the use of alcohol tags – which detect alcohol in the sweat of offenders guilty of drink-fuelled crime – on prison leavers in Wales.

* Making unpaid work “more visible” by getting offenders to clean streets and open spaces.

Under the plans, offenders doing community service would wear hi-vis as they clear canals or clean graffiti. “The intention is to make the price of crime visible,” one Home Office source said.

Some police chiefs privately mocked parts of the government plans, which the Guardian understands were launched without consulting leaders in law enforcement or frontline officers.

One chief constable condemned a plan for league tables measuring how quickly forces answer emergency and non-emergency calls: “So forces can answer the phone, say ‘hello’, and put it down again. It needs to be about the quality of what you do.”

Another chief constable said: “Its a real over-50s assumption that picking up the phone is an indicator of effectiveness.

“It is about what you do after you answer the call. Some mental health calls take two hours.”

One chief said of the overall package: “It is just weird … and a bit gimmicky. Why tag burglars on release from prison, and not domestic violence offenders, or rape suspects?”

Asked if it would cut crime, the chief said: “No, but it will waste some officers’ time. It does not address the big issues.”

Those issues identified by police leaders include poverty and social inequality that have widened in recent years, as well as changing dynamics in drugs markets.

Another police leader said of the measures, some of which were recycled from past announcements: “It is like there has been an explosion in a strategy factory.”

Johnson, out selling the plans, claimed “fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs” of offenders would be visible to the public, paying for their crimes.

That was rubbished by James Timpson, of the shoe repair business, which funds recruiting and training for ex-offenders, who said on Twitter: “Instead of making offenders wear hi-vis jackets in chain gangs, how about helping them get a real job instead? In my shops we employ lots of ex-offenders and they wear a shirt and tie. Same people, different approach, a much better outcome.”

A planned relaxation of rules governing the use of stop-and-search without an officer needing reasonable suspicion was described by Johnson as a “loving” thing to do: “I think that giving the police the backing that they need in law to stop someone, to search them, to relieve them of a dangerous weapon, I don’t think that’s strong-arm tactics, I think that’s a kind and a loving thing to do,” he said.

Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, said: “There is no evidence for the PM’s claims about the effectiveness of stop-and-search, but there is a lot of evidence it is discriminatory, unfair and does not prevent the long-term scourge of violent crime.

“Black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched; innocent black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched. That appears to be a discriminatory, not a loving thing to do. The PM should be aware of that because those are the official statistics.”

Victor Olisa, former Scotland Yard lead on stop-and-search, said: “Relying on stop-and-search as a key crime reduction tactic suggests a level of desperation in this government’s ideas on stemming the increasing level of violence in our streets.”

Part two of the crime plan sees government promising greater use of special “Nightingale” courts. It comes with the criminal justice system in crisis: courts backlogged with some cases waiting three years, demand on police rising and an expectation violence will increase as lockdown eases and society opens up.

Since becoming PM, Johnson has been keen to repair relations with policing, which fractured during the years of austerity with police officer numbers cut and government denials that helped violent crime rise.

He has promised and is on track to deliver 20,000 more officers within three years, but there are signs relations are fraying.

Police Federation leaders, representing 130,000 rank and file officers, are furious their pay has been frozen, and condemned the crime plan as containing gimmicks and being ill thought out.

Simon Foster, police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands, said: “After a decade of cuts, during which my force has shrunk by a quarter, and community policing has been dismantled, it is the height of hypocrisy for the government to talk about wanting communities to have named police officers who they can get in touch with.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
×